Sweden's Life of Recycling
by ZetsubouIchigo
Summary: Recycling and waste problems in the world, and Sweden's recycling system. In Sweden's daily life, recycling and the fate of waste is explained.


A very environmentally friendly life is boring, you might say. But for Sweden, it is nowhere near the word, "boredom". Sweden has been looked up to for recycling and having less than 1 percent of garbage. The country has indeed, been a role model for being environmentally friendly, but they have their own unsolved problems because of their recycling habits, too.

"Mr. Sweden! We've ran out of heat energy to heat homes, and there's no waste to burn again!" a worker called. "It's okay, we imported some waste. Burn those, and you'll get some energy going again," Sweden replied, patting the worker's shoulder. Sweden sighed. Even as Mr. Wiqvist said, "Our slogan is 'Zero Waste!'" he thought through it and replied with, "But some waste will still exist. Well, we can use those to create energy, I guess."

You know, not everything they say about recycling 99% of items is true. They incinerate non-recyclable waste. But they do something productive out of it. They burn it, and the it becomes energy for heating homes. Sometimes, metal from the leftover ashes are separated and recycled.

* * *

The nature-loving nation must be proud. And yet, Sweden thinks it can be even better. But how? That we don't know. That was exactly what Sweden was thinking about as he strolled through the park. Nearby, he saw a person about to throw a plastic bottle into the garbage bin. He walked over, and right before the person dropped it, he held the person's arm and made it hover over the "Plastic Containers" bin. "This goes in the "Plastic Containers" bin, not the garbage. It can be recycled," Sweden explained to the person. "Ahh... Okay, thank you," the person replied, then walked off.

* * *

The next day

Sweden sighed, straightening his back as he walked into the meeting room. It was a world meeting, today, held in Stockholm. The yell from Germany for the meeting to begin was heard loud and clear as he walked in. Perfect timing, he noted. Today's topic was recycling, a very familiar topic when it comes to Sweden.

"…Sweden importing trash from other countries… Role model… Follow country's footsteps… Reduce waste and stop pollution…"

Sweden thought about big problems with waste other than recycling. He jotted a few notes down, and continued listening.

"And that's it. Any comments?"

"I think we should get a hero to make all garbage disappear! Great idea, right?" America called out.

Sweden raised his hand. "Yes, Sweden?" Germany called. "We should also focus on garbage patches in gyres, especially the Great Pacific Garbage Patch." You see, not all waste is on land, but they certainly are from land. Some are thrown into landfills, rain causing the waste to leak a chemical that pollutes soil and lakes, ruining the ecosystem. Some, however, are recycled or at least dealt with properly. And the rest… washed away into streams, to rivers, flowing into the ocean and possibly getting sucked into huge swirling currents called gyres, and form an "island" made from trash called a garbage patch. There's at least one in the Pacific, Atlantic, Antarctic, and Indian Ocean. If you don't believe me, just search it up, no big deal.

* * *

After the Meeting

The meeting was soon called to an end, and everybody was dismissed. Norway and England walked up to Sweden. "Thanks for importing some more waste from our land," England started. Norway nodded in agreement. "We will take forever just to sort out the recyclables and waste, not to mention the process of recycling and making other products. We wouldn't know what to do with the burnt waste, either way," England continued. "We'll try find a way to get rid of it with an eco-friendly way," Norway added, and the two slowly made their way towards the door, discussing other things. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards slightly. Today sure was an eventful day. He silently bid the two good luck on recycling plans.

Allow me to explain here. Sweden often runs out of items to recycle or burn, so the country often imports waste from other countries, Norway and England in particular, to keep recycling plants going. Some leftover ash from the burning of waste gets sent back to where it came from, and there, is buried in dirt.

Do you think it's boring? Well, help recycle and reduce waste, then. You definitely don't want to live in a world full of garbage! Taking care of our environment is vital to living a healthy and happy life, after all!

* * *

Author's Note: Hello, ZetsubouIchigo here! I figured I should write a fanfic about recycling, so I did some research and concluded that Sweden is a role model for recycling. So here I used him as the main character. Please tell me if I wrote anything inaccurate and I will check the facts again.


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